I’m understanding your color blindness is a problem with the lighting on the map, however from my pospective (sad to say I’m not a civil war buff and never had much interest in the movement of the north and south war stratagies) the map made my visit to Gettysburg extremely interesting. After watching the electric map (much more interesting than a movie) I understood the entire movement. Also, when my husband & I traveled the trails thru battlefield after battelfield and to both north and south comand posts everything came into prospective and I had a better understanding. We spent a week in Gettysburg. My husband is a history nut. Myself initially with little interest, got an education and better understanding because of the Electric Map. I think the Map could be duplicated and used in other cities in the south of past battlefields to show the movement. You Mr. Lachstar have a color blindness, I and many like me have a reading comprehension deficit and prefer visual aids. We are going to Wiliamsburg this fall and hope to visit some of the battlefields in the area. I’ll bet an electric map like the one in Gettysburg would be a hit.

Kathleen – Stony Creek, CT

I went to the Gettysburg website to start planning my umpteenth visit to the battlefield. I am going w a couple friends and some of our boys. We are all excited. When asked where to start, I said: “By taking the boys to the electric map. No better way to get a feel for the battle than that.” They both agreed. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been to Gettysburg. My family members and I — the children are all native Virginians — have gathered where Armistead’s brigade gathererd the morning of July 3 and then “marched” that teirrible mile plus to Cemetery Ridge. My brother and my eldest son were there for the 125th anniversary celebrations. We have driven up as a family countless times. Today, however, when I went to the website and read about the new Visitor Center, I didn’t find anything on the electric map. So I googled “Gettysburg electric map” … and was shocked and saddened by what I found. The map has been de-activated. How sad; tragic, really. Maybe it was old school. But it’s very informative. I can’t fathom why you would leave this wonderful educational tool out of the new facility. No matter what else you’ve come up w to explain the battle, the electric map was always the kids’ highlight of our visits. We always went to view it. I respectfully urge you to re-consider the dismantling and storing of this wonderful tool. Surely you can find a spot for it in that new 139,000 square foot facility.